History Działdowo

1 history

1.1 prussia
1.2 interwar poland
1.3 world war ii

history

castle

the first settlement in vicinity, known sasinowie in polish , sassen in german, established old prussians, indigenous baltic tribe. teutonic knights conquered region , built castle, wing of still remains. new settlement near castle founded mikołaj z karbowa , named soldov granted town privileges on 14 august 1344 grand master ludolf könig. name dzialdoff first written on 1409 map during polish–lithuanian–teutonic war.

prussia

within duchy of prussia settlement converted lutheranism during protestant reformation of 16th century, according choice of prince. following communes belonged protestant parish of soldau: amalienhof, borowo, bursch, cämmersdorf, gajowken, hohendorf, kyschienen, königshagen, kurkau, niederhof, pierlawken, pruschinowo, , rudolfsfelde.

within kingdom of prussia , later german empire, settlement developed important prussian eastern railway junction in second half of 19th century. town had polish majority in 1825 1496 poles , 386 germans living within it. @ same time prussian authorities hostile local population due polish pro-independence activity during november , january uprisings in congress poland. during january uprising of 1863 ammunition depot , contact point secretly established local people trying fellow poles in struggle against russian empire; located @ house of doctor russendorf. prussian authorities arrested several locals , harassed local population tried form military units aid uprising. area remained polish despite attempts @ germanisation. in 1815 79% of local population poles, , 21% germans. in 1837 74% poles , 26% germans. in second half of 19th century 87% of district s population poles. increase of germanisation efforts in 1910, whole district population divided among 57% poles, 42% germans , 1% jews according official german statistics. in 1910 town had 4,728 inhabitants, 3,589 of them germans. in 1912 germans introduced terms masurs , masurian language instead of pole , polish language in census in area. part of landkreis neidenburg district in east prussia, , southernmost town in province.

the town fought on in stages of world war i. briefly occupied russian troops, , won germans during battle of tannenberg. occupation of soldau described in aleksandr solzhenitsyn s novel august 1914.

interwar poland

despite attempts of local german populace , authorities , german government, town neighboring settlements transferred second polish republic on january 17, 1920 treaty of versailles geostrategic reasons without participating in east prussian plebiscite. prussian eastern railway connection german prussia such deutsch eylau (iława), osterode (ostróda), , neidenburg (nidzica) in east prussia severed after border changes. after town ceded poland, large number of german inhabitants left. candidate of german party, ernst barczewski, elected sejm 74.6% of votes in 1920, , polish senate 34.6% of votes bloc of national minorities in 1928. in 1921, polish census gave following data regarding ethnic composition of whole district: poles, 15,496; germans, 8,187; others, 44.

during polish-soviet war działdowo briefly occupied red army cheered liberator local populace, , town hoisted german flag again recovered polish army.

world war ii

after german nazi - russian soviet invasion of poland in 1939 began world war ii, town annexed neidenburg district nazi germany. german minority in town formed selbstschutz death squad captured , tortured polish leaders , members of political , cultural elites before murdering them. soldau concentration camp built nearby, @ 10,000–13,000 prisoners out of 30,000 murdered.

działdowo heavily damaged during fighting on eastern front. destroyed town restored poland after war.